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hours in the rain. a litle more than an hour later the announcement of who would be the pope on the balcony of st. peter's. >> the deacon announced we have news of great joy. a new pope. the pope was cardinal bergoglio.

he said this pope has taken the name, papal name, i believe, of francis. >> he is, indeed. cardinal jorge mario berg loeeb. today for the first time he greeted, blessed, and prayed for his followers. >> translator: brothers and sisters, i leave thank you very much for your welcoming. pray for me. and i will see you soon. tomorrow i want to go to pray the virgin mary so that she keeps rome. have a good evening and rest well. >> the pope closed his remarks saying, see you soon. smiling warmly as the bells rang

out in st. peter's square. a man of great mu millty and simplicity. a pastoral leader who's been known to walk the streets of buenos aires. a man who shunned the traditi traditional limousine choosing to use public transport. the people's pope. kris jansing has been right at the heart of it all. she joins us live from the vatican along with father thomas reese of georgetown university, father john batunik, msnbc contributor and author of the blog roman catholic spiritual direction. kris, i wonder if you could describe for us the feeling. you were there. you were live on air as that smoke began to emerge. and you suddenly realized that it was not black. it was white. and a new pope had been elected.

>> reporter: it was stunning. i don't think most people believed there would be a pope on the second day after just five votes. and it didn't even match what we saw when the name was announced. because very little had been mentioned about cardinal bergoglio. francis i. in a series of reports, we know the conclaves are supposed to be secret, he had been widely mentioned as essentially the runner up to pope benedict. he was someone who quietly was making his mark on the church. as you mentioned, martin, he was someone who got great respect because of the very quiet and simple way that he lived. and the way he lived his belief in ministering to the poor. in being humble. he is someone who is very well liked. very well known. it's also interesting that out

of that last conclave, some documents that leaked said that as the vote was being taken and he looked up at that magnificent painting in the sistine chapel of the last judgment, at least one cardinal thought he was looking at it and saying, please, god, don't do this to me. he is a very humble man. and yet a very warm man. and certainly we are seeing celebrations throughout latin america, in churches across the world, where this growing population is really so enthusiastic about this church. and a man who has had great compassion. a man who has shown time and time again that he is willing to be humble but now the leader of 1.2 billion catholics. and you have to wonder, much will be talked about this, martin, in the coming days. questions were asked, the fact that the precedent has now been set by the pope ameritus

benedict to step down. might that open the way for an older pope. because he does not have to be the pope for life. a president has been set that when he no longer feels he has the vitality to continue he has another option. so the 76-year-old jorge mario bergoglio. there are people in the crowd behind me who don't want to leave. this is a historic moment. they're still feeling the excitement. >> kris, i wonder if i could speak now to father reese. because, father reese, is it your view that in a sense this appointment is an acknowledgment of the growth area of the catholic church? this is the first pontiff from latin america. is this not an acknowledgment of the church that that is where the church is growing? >> well, i would disagree with you. because i don't think the church is growing in latin america. it's growing in africa. but in latin america, we're

actually losing people to the evangelicals. in fact, in the last generation, we've lost more people to the evangelicals than were lost to pr protestants during the reformation. so the church in latin america is in trouble. hopefully one of the reasons they picked a cardinal from latin america is that he knows it's in trouble and that it needs to be turned around and he has some ideas to make it turn around. >> now, he is known as something of a traditionallist. and you will know that he's actually clashed with the president of argentina on issues like gay marriage and, indeed, even down to things like the free distribution of contraception. does that suggest that this is a man who is committed to the traditional teachings of the church as opposed to, perhaps, some who might like some more liberalization? >> absolutely.

there's no question that the election of pope francis is a vote for continuity. not for change. but it's also a vote for a very aggressive papacy on questions of the poor. here we now have a pope who has lived in the third world. who understands how globalization has been tough on the people of argentina. someone who will speak out for the poor. so he's going to have a very strong voice on the poor. thirdly, you know, i think this is going to be a very interesting papacy. he's taken the name of francis. the name of a simple friar. i think his kind of simple life that he lived in argentina, if he does that in the papacy, this is going to -- this is going to shake up some people in the papacy who really like to wear

silk and he wants to bring a much simpler lifestyle to the papacy. this could be big change. >> right. father bartunik, father reese just mentioned the fact that the new pope is from a ignatius -- does that make this man committed to education and mission in ways that will become of real focus in terms of his ministry now as pope? >> definitely the sense of mission. it was founded in the 16th century. what was in his heart was dynamism. a dynamic mission. really spread the message of the love of god. find new, creative ways to reach out to people who may have forgotten that message or never heard it before. that has been the legacy of the society of jesus, of the jesuits

for 500 years. they've been incredibly entrepreneurial. they've given saints to the people in every generation they've been around. you can see from his own life as well, the way he's lived his pastoral ministry he's very interested in getting the mess ang out. that's what we understand his mission in the church. bringing the love of jesus and the truth of jesus to the minds, hearts, and also the bodies of people everywhere in every corner of the world. if you think about these categories of traditional or conservative and liberal, it's hard to kind of make them fit with a man like this. because he has been so humble and so courageous in speaking about the rights of all people. the rights of the poor. he's spoken against political corruption. economic construction. yet at the same time he understands that the moral truths of catholic teaching are connected to the very source which gives us the eloquence to speak about the poor. i think it's going to be a dynamic papacy. he's also going to surprise us

as he already did when he came out on the balcony. he broke the protocols in the way he greeted the proud. it's going to be a very exciting papacy. >> when you describe him, sir, he sounds very much closer to the model of kris himsechrist h was for the impoverished, those on the fringes of society. he's not someone who would be concerned about wearing, as you said earlier, or father reese said earlier, about wearing the most fine silk. >> and certainly, you know, he actually did his own cooking. or he was known as doing his own cooking. so he has that simplicity. he has that humilithumility. by choosing the name francis he shows that. i don't think it's a contradiction. i don't think it's a surprise to have a pope who really believes in jesus christ. i think christ is the center of the church. always has been. to have someone who lives certain aspects of the message of christ so powerfully will definitely call attention to the papacy.

maybe among certain people who haven't paid attention in recent decades. but i think there is a lot of continuity in that focus on the person and the reality of jesus christ and the power, the transforming power of his message. >> indeed. elizabeth, what is it about pope francis in terms of his background and experience, that you think has prepared him for this sudden elevation to the papacy. >> i think first of all i'm sitting here thinking in a town where the extraordinary is kind of the ordinary, we've all been thrown for a little bit of a loop here. and it's very, very exciting. but i think already the fact that in this earlier conclave, the 2005 conclave that elected benedict xvi, there was already some thinking of cardinal bergoglio. s the already a sign to him that who knew he might come out of this situation -- might come out

of this situation again pope. obviously the battle against corruption that he has waged in his own home diocese. mostly what we're looking at is an amazing situation of a seed that was planted 400 years ago. francis and his franciscans went to latin america and they planted the seeds of the gospel 400 years ago. now that seed bears fruit in rome with our first latin american fruit. an amazing thing to see. >> kris jansing, father reese, father batunek, elizabeth lev, stay with us. much more ahead in just a moment. the capital one cash rewards card

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it was at 2:06 p.m. eastern time here in new york that we first saw the white smoke billowing out of the sistine chapel to tell the world that it now has a new pope. it's a great sense of history that people are feeling today. but also a possibility and hope for the future. that's especially true here in north america, which is home to an estimated 85 million roman catholics or about 7% of catholics worldwide. so what's in store for american catholics under this new pope? what's ahead for the church here? we're back now with kris jansing, father john bartunek,

elizabeth lev. we're also joined by george weigel, the author of a best-selling biography on pope john paul ii. he also covers issues relating to the catholic church. george, if i might start with you, and i notice that people are preparing you for this segment perhaps with microphones and so on, what is -- what is your reaction to this appointment of this particular man? >> cardinal bergoglio is a highly respected member of this college of cardinals. he was being talked about this past weekend as a possible candidate, even at the age of 76, because of the respect with which he's held by so many. >> yet, george, if i might interrupt for a moment, this decision appears to come as something of a surprise today. because most people were

anticipating, perhaps, angelo scola as being the next pope. >> martin, as you may know, vaticanology is an extremely inexact science. the worst way to try to study it is threw the i tough the italia newspapers. i'm not surprised what was in the milanese newspapers didn't happen. for his pains, he was exiled to northern argentina where he was teaching chemistry. when he came to the attention of john paul ii. who brought him back to buenos aires as auxiliary bishop and made him the archbishop. he has been a real leader in turning the church in latin america away from a kind of

institutional maintenance mindset to a new evangeliization mindset. father reese said the church needs help in latin america. it's precisely the kind of help that pope francis i who will go home to latin america in july can give it. >> george, i can't help but tell you we've had a little bit of a disappointment among some catholics that i work with here in the office who were hoping that it might be an american. >> well, everybody roots for the home team. but in the mind of john paul ii, the western hemisphere was one place. in 1997, there was a huge senate here in rome to consider the future of the church in the western hemisphere. it was john paul ii who insisted it be called for the america, not for the americas.

so we've got from america. from the new world. from the western hemisphere. and in the great family that's the catholic church, he is part of the home team. >> if i can go back now to kris jansing. kris, you were there as we were saying earlier as this decision was made. in fact, you've been there, what, i think for about five days now. as you've been reporting on the story of the conclave, did you hear in the very early stages that this man from buenos aires might well be one of the favorites for this position? >> well, we heard early on, martin, that could it be someone from latin america? could it be someone from africa? certainly his was a name that was out there if for no other reason, first and foremost, that it was widely believed he came in second, to put it that way, to joseph ratzinger who became pope benedict. having said that, his age, 76, made a lot of people disqualify

him. because one of the reasons obviously that pope benedict stepped down was because of his age. he said he didn't have the energy anymore. and so i think there was a sort of understanding among a lot of people that maybe the cardinals of the conclave would go for someone who was younger and seemed, perhaps, as more vital. having said that, remember, the two things that i think people were looking for most were someone who could evangelize and someone who could clean up the bureaucracy of the vatican. certainly on the first one we've talked about his great evangeliization skills. thomas reese was right. we've seen growth in the church in africa and latin america. there's also competition from protestant evangiliization.

it's going to be interesting to see what this man who lives so simply does inside the vatican. certainly father or george could speak better to this than i could. but what will happen now inside the walls of the vatican behind me. because there's no doubt it is widely known that they need to get their house in order, so to speak, martin. >> going to father bartunek for a moment, i want to mention a poll that was done recently. in fact, a poll found that a large majority, something like 60%, have said that the church is out of touch with catholics in this particular country. in america. what does this new pope, pope francis, have to do to make ordinary congregants feel that the church is now relevant and substantially, materially relevant to their lives on a day-to-day basis? >> i think what you saw, one of the things you saw just watching the events unfold this afternoon

here is that even -- no matter what the polls may say, there's plenty of people who feel like the church is very relevant and very much in touch with their lives. so the excitement of the people in the square of st. peter's. and you saw, i think, we might have gotten a glimpse of how pope francis i will continue to make the message of christ relevant in the way that he connected with the crowd of people who are outside st. peter's basilicbasilica, who ha praying all afternoon for the cardinals. at one moment, at one point when he was greeting them, before he gave his first blessing as pope, he actually asked the crowds, and there was tens of thousands of people, to have a moment of silence and to pray for him. to pray that god would bless him and bless his ministry. and as soon as he bowed down and invoked that silence and that prayer, there was absolute silence in the square. i think that shows that this man has a deep enough faith and a

deep enough conviction of the power of the message of jesus christ that he's going to be creative, entrepreneurial, and dynamic in the way that he continues to spread the message of jesus christ. as he has done in argentina as archbishop of buenos aires. one other interesting fact, we talk about someone who's an evangelizer. we also talk about we want someone who knows how to manage. manage a team. manage the curia. it's interesting to note this cardinal, francis i, when he was cardinal bergoglio was elected by bishops to be the head of the bishops -- he's recognized by other pastors as someone who can lead pastors. someone who both has the capacity to evangelize and also to manage. >> indeed. thanks for the moment to father bartunek, elizabeth lev, george weigel and my colleague, kris jansing. stay with us. we'll have much more just ahead. [ male announcer ] what are happy kids made of?

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♪ deductible rewards. one more way you're in good hands with allstate. ♪ throughout the week there has been mounting speculation about whether for the first time an american could possibly be the next head of the catholic church. the archbishop of new york, cardinal timothy dolan, and boston's archbishop, cardinal o'malley were both on a short list to possibly succeed benedict. i spoke to cardinal o'malley about some of the challenges the church faces in the light of sexual abuse scandals. here's what he said about the task. >> one of the things that we hope to do with the catholics come home is to help people to realize the many wonderful

things that are happening in our faith community. and our commitment to social justice, to the service of the poor, to health care, to outreach, to refugees, to the homeless. and will recognize in our faith community a wonderful force for good in society. >> of course, but we've announced today that cardinal bergoglio of argentina has been appointed pope francis i. stay with us. we have much more ahead. bacon?! gotta get that bacon! bacon?! bacon? bacon! who wants a beggin' strip? meee! i'd get it myself but i don't have thumbs! yum, yum, yum, yum, yum... it's bacon!!! mmmmm...i love you. i love bacon. i love you. [ male announcer ] there's no time like beggin' time. you don't decide when vegetables reach the peak of perfection. the vegetables do. at green giant, we pick vegetables only when they're perfect. then freeze them fast so they're are as nutritious as fresh.

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who's also joined by father mark hadu. here in new york my colleague and friend and msnbc contributor mike barnicle. kris, would you bring us up to speed? a first latin america? a first francis? how historic is this choice in your view? >> extraordinarily so, obviously. not just that it's a first. i think that it's a big surprise. i think the fact that we are looking at someone who has taken a name that really represents really working with the poor. and it's going to be so fascinating to watch how he moves forward. i think for american catholics, martin, who are looking for sweeping changes in the church, in spite of the fact that it has a very different face, you are not going to see big theological changes. this is not a college of cardinals that was going to suddenly come out and say, abortion is okay or same-sex marriage is okay. but you see in this man, you see

in this new francis i, a compassion. and i think we are going to look and see how that compassion plays out. we've already seen it, i think it was about a year ago when in parts of the world they would not even baptize a child who was born out of wedlock. and he heavily criticized that. while he has affirmed church teaching on homosexuality, he has also talked about the proper way to treat gays. and so he has really been very much in the theological mainstream. but the compassion, i think, is something that is going to really present itself. and it will be fascinating for me to see as an american. and we've talked so much, for example, about the sex abuse crisis, and someone who has shown so much compassion to people who are suffering, how he will respond to that issue so much on the minds of american catholics. >> mark, you and i were just

talking about the fact both of our children have attended jesuit schools. he is a jesuit. the jesuits committed to teaching and evangelism. the kacatholic church does needo revitalize itself particularly with people under the age of 50. >> there are elements, martin, of his papacy that are bound to be transformational. that have already transfor magsal. he's from argentina. latin america. first pope from latin america. i can't recall a jesuit assuming the papacy. i just can't recall one. and the junior colleesuits, the jesuit tradition is social justice. serving the poor. the roots of catholicism. the pope has spent his life in argentina. his priesthood in argentina ministering to the poor. to aids victims. to the hungry. to the homeless. he's a charitable person. he's a humble person. as chris just pointed out, i

think there's a segment of american catholics who will be disappointed because, you know, i think many of them were looking forward to a pope who would come in and say, all right. we're going to assume women into the priesthood. we're going to address the issues of celibacy in order to grow the priesthood. but his record is such that he is a conservative theologian. yet given his age i have a strong suspicion that he is a bridge to a new generation of catholicism that will, perhaps, grow and prosper even more. >> even though he's 76. >> yes. he's 76. i think there is some among the college of cardinals who are looking toward a younger man to become pope. by younger i mean in his mid 60s or late 60s. cardinal o'malley's age, something like that. >> father, conclaves in the modern era tend to last anywhere from two to five days. this pope's selection was on the shorter end as you know, i think, five votes. is there any message we can take with regard to that in terms of

the speed at which the cardinals arrived at a decisive decision? >> well, martin, i myself was very surprised. i came down to the plaza this evening half expecting to see the black smoke. somebody just asked me, why are you going down? i said, i think there's a 15% chance, but i'm going to fgo. amazing that they were able to come together and decide to quickly. there were stories just yesterday about perhaps this would take a long time. there were no leading candidates. and they've surprised us all. i think the message is, they must have gotten very clear very quickly in those meetings leading up to the conclave of what they were looking for. and obviously reportedly pope francis i was one of the leading candidates in the last conclave. so perhaps they were already very warm to the idea of the possibility. and they arrived at a decision

quite quickly, which leaves us all quite surprised, i must say. >> if i could just add, martin, there was five hours today between the time when there were the first two votes in the morning, and we saw the smoke, and when they went back into the conclave. that's a longer period of time than we've seen before. and we had a lot of speculation here among us, well, five hours, what will they doing in those five hours? obviously whether it was a process of conversation with the other cardinals and certainly a process of prayer when they were considering how the votes had gone so far, it was enough that they came to a conclusion this afternoon. again, much more quickly than i think vatican analysts expected. >> i'd love to hear what congressman paul ryan's reaction to this new pope is given the way the catholic church responded last year to his budget. that being said, and we can't have a reaction yet from him, what is the greatest challenge that this pope faces? >> i think he has two obvious challenges. one is to address publicly and

forcefully the sexual abuse scandal in this country. and throughout the world, actually. but in this country specifically. >> because i come from britain where, of course, there were multiple scandals. >> and ireland. >> indeed. >> so he's got to address that publicly. something that neither of the past two popes really did. i think that's essential. i think the other essential thing from everything you read and everything that's been reported and everything that you hear from members of the clergy, he's got to get his hands around the management aspect of the vatican. the secrecy that shrouds so many aspects. >> its governance? >> its governance. the government nance of the bank. the vatican itself. it's been run by a handful of men for too many years with the windows closed and the light not shining in. >> some of whom have been exposed as corrupt. >> he's got to open that up. >> mike barnicle, chris jansing

and father mark haydu, thank you so much. stay with us. we have much more ahead on this historic day. >> i'm happy that they were able to come to a choice as quickly as they did. i think that reaching out beyond the traditional continent of our church is another big step in the right direction for the church. [ female announcer ] made just a little sweeter... because all these whole grains aren't healthy unless you actually eat them ♪ multigrain cheerios. also available in delicious peanut butter. healthy never tasted so sweet. also available in delicious peanut butter. chances are, you're not made of money,

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i made the announcement that we saw smoke. but i actually have not seen the official announcement of the name. so we look forward to hearing about it and i'm sure it's going to be -- >> that was the president making his first comments on the news of the day. the catholic church choosing a new pope, francis i. in a congratulatory statement the president and first lady offered warm wishes and described the new pope as,

quote, a champion of the poor and the most vulnerable among us. now, the oldination of the vatican does not necessarily mean -- in just a few hours we will meet the man who may have done more than anything to ensure the re-election of the president. during his recent presidential campaign, mitt romney earned a number of nicknames. guilded plutocat. the world's number one offshore investor. the moniker that came to stick was not a name, but a number. one that came from his very own mouth at a fundraiser in florida. >> there are 47% of the people who will vote for the president to matter what. there are 47% who are with him, who are dependent upon government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they're entitled to health care, house wk food, you name it. my job is not to worry about

those people. i'll never convince them they should take personal responsibility and care for their lives. >> those 25 seconds of secretly recorded videotape along with his lack of specifics on virtually every policy, drove a stake through the heart of his ambition to become president. now the man responsible for recording mr. romney's true feelings about half the population, a bartender at the event, was given an exclusive interview to my colleague, ed schultz. >> i simply wanted his words to go out. and everybody could make a judgment based on his words and his words alone. the guy was running for the presidency. and these were his core beliefs. and i think, you know, everybody can judge whether, you know, that's appropriate or not or they believe the same things he does. but i felt then an obligation to expose the things that he was saying. >> joining us now is msnbc's finest defensive lineman, ed schultz. >> not linebacker?

>> you're much more a forceful and attacking player. congratulations, first of all, on the scoop. it's big. was this man motivated by a partisan desire to undermine mitt romney. >> you would think so. absolutely not. >> absolutely not? >> it would fit the mold of someone, oh, i got him. >> right. >> this is so far from that. this is a worker. this is somebody who pays attention to the news a little bit. obviously was paying a little bit more attention to it because of the election cycle. and was going to be exposed to one of the two men that was going to be president of the united states. so out of just having an opportunity to be close to somebody important, he took a camera with him. and he'll explain how that all unfolded tonight. very interesting. is he a politico? no. is he a daily demonstrator or someone that has got --

absolutely not. in fact, he told me he's a registered independent. >> is it your view that the material that this man captured proved to be the decisive, if you like, factor in mitt romney's demise in that presidential election? >> well, it certainly got a lot of attention, martin. it may have influenced some people. but what this gentleman wanted to do was to make sure the country knew who mitt romney was behind closed doors and to give the american people an opportunity to make their own determination. voting for someone to lead the free world is a very important responsibility. >> no doubt. >> and he thought that there was not the real story about mitt romney being out there. now, he -- he tossed and turned over this. it's not like this happened and then the next day he started working the social media. he sat on this for quite some time. and he'll explain that tonight. why he did it. how he did it. what his method is. and what i found so terribly

fascinating, as big as this was, it's him. he didn't -- he wasn't managed by any consultant. he wasn't managed by any pr firm. he didn't have any media people telling him, now, you've got to do this or this isn't going to work. this is an instinctive worker who knew he had information that he felt the american people had to hear about. >> now, mitt romney would probably like to forget about the comments he made. but he was asked about them in his first interview after the election. here's what he said. >> it was a very unfortunate statement that i made. it's not what i meant. i didn't express myself as i wished i would have. and it was very harmful. what i said is not what i believe. >> now, ed, he says what i said is not what i believe. and then in that same interview, he went on to say that the reason the president won is because minorities voted for him on the basis of getting free

health care. so the fact is he still does believe that. >> sure he does. well, this underscores and validates why this gentleman thought that releasing the tape was so terribly important. and to this day, and let me give you this snippet of information, that when this gentleman saw that interview on fox news, that was the tipping point. he says, i'm going to come out and i'm going to make myself known and i'm going to speak to this issue. that was the deciding -- because i asked him in the interview, why now? and he pointed to that interview. because on march 3rd, just a couple of weeks -- ten days ago mitt romney was still in denial in many respects and still twisting what he -- what he actually said. >> so this man says that he watches mitt romney on fox news with chris wallace. >> yes. >> he hears him say he doesn't really believe the 47% comment. and then he decides that actually he's lying. >> well, he could have come out before the election.

he could have made himself known. but what is so pure about this, martin, is this guy could have sold the interview. he could have gone to the biggest format. "the ed show" we like to think is big. let's face it, there are media magazines that are far bigger than anything else that's on tv for an hour. i really believe that this man is pure. he has tremendous integrity. he's an honest man. he didn't -- he wasn't a media who ar whore. he wasn't trying to game this for more money. >> did you pay for the interview? >> absolutely not. >> did this company make any payment? >> absolutely not. >> did you make any promises to him? >> none whatsoever. and i can tell you that i first met this man in the weekend of the inauguration. he watched our show in freeport, illinois. he knows what "the ed show" and the ed brand is all about. and this is a worker. and he will explain tonight exactly why he did this and what infuriated him and what the

country needed to know. >> ed, i'm not surprised he came and spoke to you because you've stood up for working people throughout the time you've been on this network. >> well, i appreciate that, martin. thank you. >> you have. >> thank you. >> of course, just a reminder, don't miss "the ed show" tonight when we will learn the identity of the man who secretly shot the mitt romney 47% video. the show starts as always at 8:00 p.m. eastern time only here on msnbc. stay with us. we'll have much more ahead. aw this is tragic man, investors just like you could lose tens of thousands of dollars on their 401(k) to hidden fees. thankfully e-trade has low cost investments and no hidden fees. but, you know, if you're still bent on blowing this fat stack of cash, there's a couple of ways you could do it. ♪ ♪ or just go to e-trade and save it. boom. ♪

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people all over the world today have fixed their attention on the vatican and the emergence of a new pope, francis i. in washington and conservative circles there's another big event getting ready to launch tomorrow. we're talking about cpac. a brief preview of all the

imagi imagi majesty it entails. we're joined by with jonathan capehart and krystal ball. spending time at a conference would for some of us represent an early experience of hell. i'm reminded of that great description of hell from milton's "paradise lost." as one great furnace flamed, yet from those flames no light but rather darkness. given the quality of the speakers is this not a throwback to the dark ages? >> it certainly is a throwback to, let's say, a political party that's been defeated in two presidential elections and is floundering, trying to figure out where does it go, what does it stand for and who its leaders are. sarah palin will be there. mitt romney will be there. you mentioned all the names. these are either failed candidates or people who will never even become president of

the united states. so the idea that those folks would be given platforms and not the chris christies, bobby jindals and other people in the republican party who are a whole lot more serious makes you wonder whether cpac is even relevant. >> indeed. chr krystal, we have an early tweet from the ever humble donald trump who says this. lines for my cpac news address start at 7:00 a.m. outside the potomac ballroom. acu has asked that you get there early. donald trump. the biggest attraction. your view of him as far as his humility goes, first? >> it's impressive, really. quite impressive. the thing is, besides just him alone creating a carnivallike, unserious atmosphere, what the gop really needs right now is ideas. they need thought leader. they knead to do some soul searching and actually come up with some solutions that would appeal to the american public. donald trump is exactly the wrong